Bronx Community College LGBTQI + Resource Room Vol. 1. No. 2 Loud Spring 2019 “Your silence will not protect you.” - Audre Lorde Celebrating Black History Month About James Baldwin Quoting Baldwin James Baldwin was born in Harlem in 1924. The grandson of a slave, he grew up Compiled by Edwin Roman, Rainbow Alliance Advisor in poverty and had a difficult relationship with his stepfather, who was a strict preach- “Everybody’s journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. er. He briefly followed in his stepfather’s The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does footsteps and became a preacher. When about homosexuality.” he was eighteen years old, Baldwin left home, as well as the pulpit, and took a job “The place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it.” working for the New Jersey railroad. After working briefly with the railroad, Baldwin “It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy moved to where he justice can have.” worked as a freelance writer, primarily writ- ing book reviews. Baldwin caught the atten- tion of novelist Richard Wright, who helped “Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no him secure a grant so he could support him- limitations to where you can go.” self as a writer. Baldwin moved to Paris in 1948 where he hoped “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly to put some distance is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with away from America in pain.” order to write about it. After writing for vari- “Whoever debases others is debasing himself.” ous magazines, Bald- win went to Switzer- “Hatred is always self-hatred, and there is something suicidal about it.” land to finish his first novel. Go Tell It on the “Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do Mountain, published and cause you to endure, does not testify to your inferiority but to their in 1953, was an auto- inhumanity and fear.” biographical work about growing up in Har- lem. Over the next decade, Baldwin moved around between Paris, , and Istan- “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be bul, writing two books of essays, Notes of poor.” a Native Son (1955) and Nobody Knows My Name (1961), as well as Giovanni’s Room “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, (1956). Giovanni’s Room is noteworthy but then you read.” for presenting multifaceted representa- tions of homosexuality with real empathy. “Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.” In the early 1960s, Baldwin returned to the United States to take part in the civil “The impossible is the least that one can demand.” rights movement. Traveling throughout the South, he began work on a book that ex- “Allegiance, after all, has to work two ways; and one can grow weary of an allegiance which plored black identity and the state of racial is not reciprocal.” struggle titled, The Fire Next Time (1963). By 1987, when he died of stomach can- “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I cer at the age of 63, James Baldwin had insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” become one of the most important ad- vocates for equality in American society. “You don’t know what’s happening on the other side of the wall, because you don’t want to know.” In the News... On January 26, NPR featured a story on LGBT Navajos: It’s not unusual that Navajo grandparents are accepting of LGBT grandchildren while parents are not. Historians say federally run board- ing schools and other assimilation tac- tics taught a generation of Navajos that same-sex relationships are wrong. “When I came out to my family, my mother of course took it the hardest. But my grandparents didn’t,” says Alray Nelson, a Navajo LGBT rights activist. “We are seeing clearly the aftereffects of what colonialism can look like and how it really shifted our values as Na- vajo people,” Nelson says. “Whereas at the time, if you were LGBTQ and growing up in Navajo traditional fami- lies, families celebrated that fact. They said that we were sacred. They said that we had sacred roles.” Read more at: https://goo.gl/QKWfgC

On January 22, reported that The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the Trump adminis- tration’s request to allow it to bar most transgender people from serving in the military while cases challenging the policy make their way to the court. The Administration’s policy reversed a 2016 decision by the Obama adminis- tration to open the military to transgen- der service members. Read more at: https://goo.gl/4pGxPd Room News... BCC QueerLit Book Club The BCC QueerLit Club, Rainbow Alliance which formed in the Fall 2018 semester, got started On January 9, TEDX Talks posted a with The Gentleman’s Guide video featuring Susan Cottrell, founder to Vice and Virtue by Mack- of FreedHearts, a ministry for families enzi Lee. The book tells the of LGBTQ individuals. Cottrell discuss- Sixth Annual Sock Drive story of a young bisexual es when her daughter came out and British lord embarking on an the choice she had to face: her LGBTQ The Rainbow Alliance held their 6th Annual Holiday unforgettable Grand Tour of child or her non-affirming church. In Sock Drive. The sock drive benefits the homeless Europe with his secret crush. this heartwarming talk, Susan explains LGBTQI youth that utilize the services of Sylvia’s The book is an 18th-century romantic adventure for the why she chose her LGBTQ child and Place. 248 socks were collected. Over the last six modern age. For the Spring 2019 semester, the club will how she fights for progress inside the years, the Rainbow Alliance has collected and donat- be reading Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. The Christian Church. ed over 1300 pairs of socks. The Rainbow Alliance BCC QueerLit Club meets every Thursday, from 12- See the video at: https://goo.gl/Hviw4Y meets every Friday, 1-3pm, in RBSC 301. 2pm, in RBSC 301.

Spring 2019 NOH8 @ BCC The NOH8 Campaign started as a charitable organization to promote LGBTQ marriage, gender and human equality through education, advocacy, social media, and visual protest. Many well-known athletes, musicians and other ce- lebrities have posed for NOH8 pictures. The Rainbow Alliance brought this concept of promoting gender and human equality through education, advocacy and social media to BCC. Here are some of the pictures.

Volume 1 Issue 2 Campus Events

LGBTQI+ Resource Room Spring 2019 safe space training 2155 University Avenue Student Center [BC] 301 Come to a day of training to become an ally to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, 718.289.5300 Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual or Questioning Students. Dr. Thomas A. Isekenegbe President Thursday, April 11, 2019 | 12-2pm Dr. Luis Montenegro Roscoe Brown Student Center 211 Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs PLEASE SIGN UP ON LINE AT: https://goo.gl/dshcXd Dr. Irene R. Delgado Vice President for Student Success

Dr. Alexander Ott Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for Weekly Events Curriculum Matters and Faculty Development Manny Lopez - Mondays Associate Dean for Student Development Pride Slice Emalinda McSpadden Faculty Coordinator A weekly discussion series focusing on different LGBTQI+ topics and

Donna Paroff-Sherman concerns. Pizza is provided to all who attend, and students are invited Safe Space Committee Chair to offer topic suggestions for ongoing programming. 12-2 p.m. in RBSC Personal Counseling 301. Edwin Roman Rainbow Alliance Advisor Loud! Designer and Co-Editor Beyond the Binary BCC’s first and only TGNC support group for transgender women and Advisory Board men, gender queer, gender fluid, gender nonconforming, non binary and Nathan Aiken questioning students. We are experts, allies, and advocates ready to Carl Andrews Alicia Bralove give support-oriented speech and offer student to student lead feed- Amar Dervisevic Joseph Donica back (and pizza). Stephen Duncan 3-4 p.m. RBSC 301 Yvonne Erazo-Davila Marjorie Garrido Raymond Gonzalez Jay Gundacker - Tuesdays Elizabeth Hardman Aimee Herman Yasmeen Joyner LGBTQI+ Support Group Manny Lopez Share. Express. Support. Let’s come together to express thoughts, Emalinda McSpadden Sergio Osoria hopes, and feelings with other like minded people. 1-2 p.m. If you are Simran Pal-Kaur Jessenia Paoli interested please visit RBSC 301 15 minutes prior (12:45 p.m.) to Donna Paroff-Sherman Enelyn Ramirez Pre-Register. Patricia Ramos Crystal Rodriguez Edwin Roman Jasmina Sinanovic - Thursdays Ayana Soto Daniela Tuda BCC QueerLit Book Club Wali Ullah Marie Varghese Provides an opportunity for students to read and discuss queer litera- John Ziegler ture of various genres, inspiring their own creative works. 12-2 p.m. in RBSC 301. Mission

The LGBTQI + Resource Room at Bronx Community College works to foster an - Fridays inclusive, safe, and welcoming environment for students, faculty, and staff of all sexual Rainbow Alliance Club orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions. The LGBTQI + Resource Room The Rainbow Alliance provides resources and extracurricular activities aims to sustain visibility and a sense of community by providing education, program- that address the needs of LGBTQI+ students as well as the greater ming, and support services on campus. campus community. 1-3 p.m. in RBSC 301.